Child care is in crisis in Sonoma County

It is a quiet crisis, in most cases borne privately by parents who struggle to piece together coverage for their children, coverage that they can afford and that they also believe is safe and nurturing for their children.

However, it is a growing crisis, as the number of families with two working parents increases in Sonoma County, and the transition from welfare to work adds to the number of low income working families searching for affordable child care.

It is a crisis that leaves many infants and preschoolers in substandard care and large numbers of children ages 6 through 13 without supervision before and after school.¹ It forces families of all income levels to rely on a stressful patchwork of parental and out-of-home care that can take a heavy toll on family life. For employers it means workers who may come in late, leave early or become distracted from their jobs because of worries about their kids when school lets out.

This is a crisis that affects everyone who has a stake in the future of Sonoma County - children, parents, child care professionals, educators, business leaders, city and county policymakers, elected officials.

The crisis is caused by the intersection of three realities of child care: availability, cost, and quality:

Availability. In order to fill the projected Year 2000 need for child care, and assure quality standards, Sonoma County will have to develop full or part-time legally sanctioned spaces for about 7,500 children. (See chart page 1.). It will also have to more than double the number of subsidized spaces for low income families.²

Cost. Child care can consume more than 25% of an average working family's income.³ Quality. The future of many of our children may be at risk from the hours they spend in substandard child care. Although evidence is growing that a child's environment and experiences between the ages of one and three affect brain development more than any other period of life, there are no widely utilized or legally enforced quality standards available to parents trying to evaluate child care settings.

AVAILABILITY

According to the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council, Sonoma County faces an immediate and daunting availability challenge. The exact size of the child care gap is unknown because there is no way of counting the total number of parents searching for child care at any given time. However, the Community Child Care Council, a resource and referral agency that helps parents find child care, keeps a waiting list of families who are eligible for subsidized care if funding is available. The number varies daily, but remains between 2000 and 2500 families throughout the year. According to 1998 data from the Child Care Planning Council, the areas of greatest need are infant and toddler care and school age care. There are four main types of legally sanctioned child care eligible for public subsidies:

1. Center-based care takes place at a licensed child care facility. This is generally the most expensive type of care.
2. Family child care homes are private homes whose residents are licensed to provide care for small numbers of children. This is usually the second most expensive care.
3. School site care provided on school grounds can be either licensed or unlicensed. The programs are run by nonprofit agencies, school districts or community groups.
4. Arrangements that parents make by asking friends, relatives or neighbors to care for their children. Unlike the first three types, this "license exempt" care is not required to meet minimum standards of health and safety and the caregivers are not required to have training in child care or first aid. They must be fingerprinted and listed on the state's Trustline registry as having no record of criminal activity or child abuse.

Age of the child - Younger children need more constant supervision than older children, and a lower child-to-provider ratio in order to provide safe and nurturing care. As the number of workers increases, so does the cost. Licensed infant care, the most expensive, averages $630 a month. Unfortunately, young families often earn the least money just at the time when their children are young and their child care is most expensive.

Time and season of care - In Sonoma County it is estimated that 30% of school age children need before or after school care to fully cover parents' working and commute hours.⁴ Families also need care during summer vacation. Most summer camps and other programs are expensive and open only 6-7 hours during the day, so that parents face additional schedule juggling and costs to cover morning and evening hours. Other parents, especially those working in low-paying jobs such as retail or restaurant jobs, need evening and weekend care, just the times when most centers and family care homes are closed.

Subsidized Care

Help with child care costs is available in Sonoma County, but only for the poorest families. In order to qualify for state subsidies, families have to earn less than 75% of the state median income, which in 1998 came to less than $25,389 for a family of three. In 1998, 941 children received state child care subsidies in Sonoma County.⁵

The federally funded Head Start program requires even lower incomes. Families must earn less than 100% of federal poverty guidelines, which translates into an annual income of $13,650 for a family of three. In 1998, 498 children were enrolled in Head Start in Sonoma County.

Sonoma County offers a variety of subsidies. Qualified families can be assigned spaces at child care centers and family day care homes. Voucher programs allow parents to choose their own child care programs. Under the category "license exempt care," parents can use their subsidies to pay friends, relatives or neighbors to look after their children.

With the coming of SonomaWORKS, the county's welfare reform program, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is providing additional federal child care money to help people moving off welfare into jobs or job preparation programs, and the number of people receiving subsidies in Sonoma County is rising.

What licensing means:

The home or center is inspected for health and safety standards. The home or center complies with rules governing the number of children allowed per staff member or provider.

All adults have had a TB test, a criminal/child abuse record check, and training in health and safety procedures, first aid and cardiopul-monary resuscitation (CPR). Directors and teachers at centers (but not family care homes) have completed at least 12 units of early childhood education and have had some experience in a licensed child care center or similar setting.

What licensing does not mean:

A license does not guarantee quality child care.

Caught in the squeeze - low income working families

It is difficult enough for average income working families to manage the costs of child care, which can eat up a quarter or more of their income. For low income working families the combination of child care and high housing costs can be devastating. A salesperson in Sonoma County earning approximately $1,557 a month ⁶ will have to pay $700-$850 a month for an apartment ⁷ and $454 a month for one child in a family care home.

Child care planners are worried that welfare reform will make things harder for working low income families who are not eligible for SonomaWORKS subsidies because they are not welfare clients. They will be competing with SonomaWORKS recipients for the inadequate number of subsidized spaces. "We have enough funding for our SonomaWORKS clients, but there is a shortfall of money for low income families that is not being addressed," says Greg Varley, Planner Analyst for Sonoma County Human Services and Co-chair, Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council.

The lack of affordable child care is one of the main reasons why thousands of Sonoma County children spend their days in the only care their working parents can find or afford - the homes of unlicensed relatives, friends, neighbors, sometimes people the parents barely know. These homes may be unsafe for babies or young children. Equally troubling is the effect of the quality of such care on children's development.

QUALITY

The quality of care for young children determines their future. The Little Hoover Commission report, Caring for Our Children: Our Most Precious Investment, Little Hoover Commission, September 1998, reports recent scientific research showing that brain development occurs mostly before age three, and depends on environmental stimuli that encourage brain cell connections.

The Little Hoover Commission's report concludes that current brain research explains what most parents understand - children who are loved, nourished and protected during their earliest years and who are raised in stimulating home and child care environments are likely to grow up to be happy, well-adjusted and capable adults. Unfortunately, according to expert testimony before the Little Hoover Commission and other reports, most child care in the United States is poor to mediocre and compromises the long term development of children. Forty percent of infant and toddler care takes place in settings that are actually unsafe or unhealthy.⁸

The quality of child care depends on the quality of the caregiver. "Children receive the best care from child care workers who are well trained and well compensated for their work. It is a shame that we pay dog catchers more than we pay child care workers," states Carrie Anabo, Director of Resource and Referral for the Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County.

It is very difficult for parents to judge the quality of child care settings. Although child care experts have published guidelines for assessing child care, these are not easily available to many parents, and the guidelines do not have the force of law behind them. The Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council is launching an education campaign to help parents identify good quality child care.

"During the developmental phase between birth and age 12, and particularly in the first three years of life, 'windows' occur that provide unique opportunities for learning. Once these windows close, the fundamental structure of the brain has been formed." During these same early years, personality traits also develop. By eight months of age, brain connections influencing behavior are permanently in place.

Response to the crisis

In the face of Sonoma County's quiet but growing child care crisis, modest efforts are underway to increase the supply of child care. The county is funding projects to train SonomaWORKS and Head Start parents to become teachers at child care centers and licensed family care providers. The Community Child Care Council and River Child Care are using county funds to increase their capacity to train child care workers.

Local government has also begun to respond to the crisis. Santa Rosa in 1991 adopted a child care policy for its revised General Plan, a move signaling that the city feels the care of children should assume the same level of importance as other long range planning issues.

The child care crisis affects every resident of Sonoma County. Access to affordable, quality child care directly impacts the present and future well-being of the county's children. It helps determine the economic stability of their families, and the productivity of Sonoma County workers. It touches the quality of life for all communities.

The gap between the need for affordable, safe, nurturing child care and the supply of such care is so great that it will take the entire community to deal with the crisis. Family Action and the Child Care Planning Council are working to increase the supply of quality child care, to assure continuing subsidies for families who need help, and to educate parents, policymakers and community leaders about critical child care issues. If you are interested in working with these organizations, please call Family Action of Sonoma County at 707 586 3032 or the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council at 1 800 597 8558.

The mission of Family Action of Sonoma County is to effect long term policy change that will have a positive impact on the lives and health of children and their families in Sonoma County. Family Action of Sonoma County is funded principally by The California Endowment and works in partnership with the Sonoma County Community Foundation and California Parenting Institute. The mission of the Sonoma County Child Care Planning Council is to advocate, advise and plan for quality, accessible, and affordable child care services in Sonoma County.

FAMILY ACTION OF SONOMA COUNTY
3650 Standish Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
 
PHONE: 707-586-3032
FAX: 707-585-2158
WEBSITE: www.fasc.org
 
SONOMA COUNTY CHILD CARE PLANNING COUNCIL
P.O. Box 6011
Santa Rosa, CA 95406